“It was only the car. And that officer took Nancy from me.”
“That officer is new. Cut him some slack.”
“If I cut him, then they’ll arrest me.”
I sighed, pushed on the door, and let her pass. “It’s just a saying.”
Once we were outside, a cool breeze swept over me. I shivered, realizing I needed more than a light jacket. No more warm days in October around here.
As we stepped down the three cement steps to the sidewalk, I glanced up. There, only a few feet in front of me, was Monty.
He saw me. There was no time to hide.
“Crap,” I mumbled.
“Oh look, it’s Nathan’s dad. We should say hi.”
My head snapped to Jami. How did she know? I had said nothing to her. I shook my head. Laura must have told her.
“Let’s not,” I added, but it was too late.
Jami was waving at Monty, and he looked as stunned as I felt.
“Hello. Are you here to complain about Officer Kolsti?” Jami asked.
“No. I don’t even know who Officer Kolsti is,” Monty said as his eyes dipped to Nathan in the car seat. “How is he?”
He wasn’t taking his eyes off him. As mad as I was at him, my heart broke as I watched him. I knew he loved his son and wanted to be a part of his life, but he’d done some crazy things since September.
And the part that bugged me the most was that he took so long to tell me. Even if he never acknowledged Nathan, he’d still technically be his father. No one can just pretend a son away.
“He’s fine. Sleeping a little longer at night. I now get a full four hours a night. Yay!” I shook my fist in the air.
His chocolate eyes, the ones I missed staring at me with desire, widened. “A full four hours. Must be luxury. I bet you wish you had someone to help. Someone to maybe get up a few nights a week with him.”
I would love that. As helpful as Jami was, I wasn’t about to interrupt her beauty sleep. Without a full eight hours, she was impossible to be around.
“It’s fine. I have to breastfeed him anyway, so I have to get up during the night.”
I noticed his field of vision switched from Nathan to my breasts before finally meeting my eyes.
“You could pump. Then I could take him and feed him with a bottle.” He watched me with hopeful eyes.
“That sounds like a good idea. Monty likes to be in your bed anyway,” Jami pointed out.
Monty rolled his lips over his teeth, trying not to laugh. “She has a point,” he said with a chuckle.
Heat crawled up my neck as I remembered when Jami found Monty on the floor of my bedroom, naked.
“It’s not just about that, Jami. There’s a routine, and he likes things a certain way. If Monty had acknowledged Nathan from the beginning, he might already know how to take care of him.” I raised my brow at Monty.
He frowned. It was the truth. I wasn’t going to always keep Nathan away from his father, but I wasn’t ready. He was my baby, and Monty hadn’t lifted a finger to help. He needed to prove to me that I could trust him with Nathan.
“I told him he needed to see Nathan on his birthday, but you didn’t listen to me.” Jami stared at me. “I didn’t understand why you wanted to keep Nathan from his father. Then you let him into your room, and I thought you’d let him see Nathan. But after that, he hasn’t been back to the house since.”
My mouth fell open as I stared at my sister. “You knew Monty was Nathan’s father this whole time? Even at his birthday party?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Julia. It’s obvious.” Jami waved at Monty.
“No, it’s not obvious, Jami. I slept with the man, and even I didn’t know for two weeks after the party.”
“That can’t be right.” Her brow pinched. “Nathan looks just like him. They even have similar expressions. See, look, Nathan’s doing it right now.”
I glanced down at my son, his eyes wide open now as he grinned. I heard a toot and realized he pooped his diaper. But even with that poop-smile, I saw what Jami was talking about. Why hadn’t I noticed it before?
“My God, Nathan looks like you.” I glanced up at Monty, and he had the same sloppy smile on his face.
He stared at Nathan with tremendous emotion in his eyes.
It wasn’t fair. What I was doing to him wasn’t right.
“I know you want to spend time with him, and I’m sorry I’ve kept him from you.” What kind of mother does this? I felt like a fraud.
“It’s not like I gave you much reason to trust me.”
“I know, but he’s your son. No matter how I felt about you taking so long to inform me that you were the father, you should be in his life too.”
“Really?” He reached over and pulled me into an embrace. It was awkward, as Nathan’s car seat was in the way, but it was enough for the heat of his touch to send electricity straight down between my legs.
I felt him press his face to the top of my head and inhale. Why did he have to do that? Now I wanted to jump him right here in the middle of the sidewalk.
I pulled away, afraid my vagina would make decisions for me.
“How about tomorrow night? I’ll get everything ready tonight, and he can have a sleepover at your place tomorrow.”
The thought made me nervous. I had never been away from Nathan overnight. But this was his father. He needed to play catch-up.
Monty’s smile faded. “Actually, I’m heading to Colorado tomorrow.”
I was a little irritated. The first chance to be with his son, and he was turning it down, but I understood he ran a company. He wasn’t always going to be available.
“When do you come back?”
He winced. “December, I think. Maybe January.”
I blinked and stood there, processing what he was telling me.
“You can’t take some time for your son? To bond with him?”
Monty rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe. I’m sure I can get away by Thanksgiving.”
“The end of November . . . You’re telling me you might see your son in six weeks? He’ll be over three months old by that point.”
“It’s the VR project I told you about—”
I held up my hand. “Save it. My God, I actually felt bad for keeping Nathan away from you. Now I give you the chance to take him for the night, and I stupidly thought you’d leap at it. I was so wrong. Do I need to make an appointment on your calendar to fit in time with your son?”
I started to turn, waving Jami to follow, when Monty said, “No, please. I want to see him—”
“No, you don’t.” I turned back. “You love him and wish to hold him, but business comes first. Money comes first. I don’t care if what you’re doing will be the cure for cancer. Actually, I would care very much if you found the cure for cancer because fuck cancer. But my point is, he’s your son. If you can’t even give him one night, then why would you ever expect him to give you his heart?”
I turned back and walked away as tears streamed down my face.
“Never trust a man who thinks money is the answer to problems,” I whispered to Nathan.
Chapter 24
Monty
“DOES SHE KNOW I’M COMING?” I looked over at Rock, who held a tray of freshly baked chocolate chips cookies in his hands.
The night was crisp, and my breath fogged up the air, as did his. He knocked on the red-painted door with leather glove-covered hands.
“No.”
My eyes widened, but before I could yell at my brother, the door flew open. Laura stood there with a smile.
“Great. You’re here.” Her eyes dipped to the tray, and her grin slowly fell away. “Rock, did you make those cookies?”
“Yes, and they smell delicious.”
“You didn’t put any pepper in them, did you?”
Laura must have witnessed Rock’s secret ingredient before. He put pepper in everything, even if it didn’t belong.
“Now why would I do that?” He handed the tray to h
er, and she stepped back to let us inside.
Rock turned to me and whispered, “I used red pepper. These are spicy chocolate chip cookies. But don’t tell Laura. I want it to be a surprise.”
I was still upset that Rock hadn’t told Julia I was coming to the dinner party at her house. “Why didn’t you tell Julia I was coming tonight?”
He groaned and gave Laura a knowing look when she took our coats.
She walked upstairs with them and the cookies, and Rock and I were left alone in the front entrance. I glanced into the family room and down the hall to the kitchen, but no one was there, though I heard voices.
“Because, if Laura or I said anything to Julia, we were afraid she’d make an excuse for not coming to the dinner party tonight.”
“But it’s her dinner party.”
“Actually, it was Hamish’s idea.”
I rolled my eyes. “Figures he would sweettalk his way into meeting Jami.”
“What? No, he told me it was important that you and Julia patched things up. He cares about you, as do I.”
No, he cares about bagging a Nutters sister.
“Right.” I nodded and went along with my brother’s naïve idea about Hamish. “But what happens when she sees me? You don’t think she’ll run?”
He waved up the stairs. “Her son’s here. She won’t run far.”
I jerked my head back. “Are you going to hold him hostage? That sounds like a terrible idea, Rock.”
He swayed his head back and forth. “You say ‘hostage,’ I say ‘keeping him safe in my arms.’”
I held up my hands and moved toward the kitchen. “I want no part of that, Rock.”
I heard Rock head up the stairs, probably looking for Laura.
Right as I stepped foot in the kitchen, I noticed the small round table from Nathan’s party had been replaced with a long rectangular one that took up most of the area. There was barely any room for the chairs.
A throat cleared, and I turned to find Julia standing in the corner by the refrigerator.
“I don’t remember inviting you to eat with us.”
I shoved my hands into the front pockets of my jeans. “Rock told me you had. If you want me to leave, I can.”
Julia pursed her lips. “Since you’re here, you might as well stay. I heard there will be freezing rain tonight. Not safe to drive out there.”
She rubbed a spot on the counter, refusing to look at me.
“I thought about what you said at the police station . . . You’re right.”
She twisted the corner of her mouth. “Money comes first?”
I took a step forward. “No. I love him.”
She leaned against the marble counter, folding her arms over her chest. Julia looked beautiful tonight. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she wore a pink cashmere sweater and black cigarette pants, and everything fit her body perfectly.
“You have a funny way of showing it.”
“You’re wrong.”
That upset her. She stepped right up to me and pushed her finger into my chest. “So jetting around the country for months while your son is at home never seeing you . . . that’s okay with you?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not. It’s not funny; it’s terrible. Julia, I’m not used to this. My mind is still in non-parent mode. I’m here because I need your help. Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
She lowered her finger and blinked up in surprise. “What do you need help with?”
“This.” I waved my hand around the room. “You get to spend every free moment with him, and I’ve only seen him twice, both times in that hard, plastic carrier.”
She smiled. “It’s a detachable car seat. I can also hook it into a stroller I have.”
“Whatever it is, I have yet to hold him.”
She nodded and turned, leaving through an open doorway to another room.
That was it. She refused to speak with me. I opened my heart to her, told her I wasn’t perfect and couldn’t just switch on the dad brain, and she walked away.
I pounded my fist on the counter.
“Shh,” she murmured.
I turned back around and saw her there with Nathan sleeping in her arms. My heart felt like it was about to hit the floor.
Julia walked up to me and nudged my arm. “Here, take him. That’s if you still want to?”
“Yes.” I couldn’t say it fast enough.
I slipped my hands around my son and gently took him from her. It was difficult to swallow as I tried to speak. Nothing would come out. Feeling his tiny breaths as he nuzzled into my grasp made me realize how foolish I had been to wait so long to tell Julia.
“I’m sorry.” I looked up at her, trying to hold back my emotion. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know . . .”
I kept repeating that over and over. It’s all I could get out. This was love. No judgment. No fear. Just complete adoration for someone simply because they existed.
A tear fell from her eye as she smiled. “I’m sorry too. I’m sorry I kept this from you.”
I studied my son as he slept, his small patch of black hair on his head and his tiny fingers.
“You can touch him. He won’t bite. Even if he did, he has no teeth, so it won’t hurt.”
I was overwhelmed, and it hadn’t occurred to me to touch him. This was all so new.
I lifted his small hand. “It’s so little.”
“Sometimes he snores,” she said with a giggle.
Julia kissed the top of his head, and my heart felt full. I couldn’t remember a moment in my life where I was happier than I was right now.
“I don’t want to lose you.”
She tucked the blanket that swaddled him around his shoulder. “You won’t lose him. I promise you can see him whenever you want.”
“No. I meant the both of you.”
Julia looked up and searched my eyes. “I believe you, but your schedule . . . I know you have a company and are a busy man, but I’m not the type of person who would be happy sitting home wondering when I would see you again. Will it be weeks or months? Like I said, you can see Nathan when you want, but I need a partner, not the occasional hookup.”
“That’s why I came here tonight. What you said earlier today made me realize that if I want a family, I have to provide.”
Her eyes widened. “I’m pretty sure you make enough money to provide for Nathan—”
“No, I mean, I have to provide my time. My love. My support. That’s not just dollar bills. If it was only money that made me a dad, then I’d be a crappy father. I want to be here for him. I’ve already rearranged my schedule. I’m only in Colorado two days a week for the next two months.” I lifted my arm and cupped her cheek. “I want to be here for you. I want to be with you.”
She bit her lip, and I could tell I was winning her over. “Hmm, if you want to be with me, then I have a few requests. I need to know now if you’re man enough to fill them.”
“Anything. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”
“Number one,” she lifted her finger in the air, “I need orgasms. Lots of orgasms.”
I grinned. “I don’t see that as a problem. I’ll be happy to satisfy that request.”
She lifted another finger. “Number two. That restaurant I walked out of on our date . . . We should go back. I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t get to finish that dessert. And we have to bring Laura so she can see how outstanding it is and recreate it for me.”
I nodded. “Sounds doable.”
“And finally, number three, the hardest one of all.” She flicked up a third finger. “Can we wrap your cock up like a candy cane again? I have a fantasy where I get to untie it.”
“But you already did that.”
Her lips curved into a wicked smile. “Yes, I know, but never in the light. I like to see what I’m getting.”
“Anything you want. I love you, Ms. Nutters. I’ll keep nothing from you again, especially my cock.”
“And I love you, Mr. Diaz. You’re
the best baby daddy a woman could wish for . . . and fantasize about.” She wiggled her brows.
I leaned down and kissed her. I’d do everything in my power to keep from ruining what I had with this woman.
Something bothered me, and I pulled away. “Where is everyone? Is it only Rock and Laura here?”
“Oh no, everyone but Hamish has arrived. Even James and Marika, but I think they’re hiding upstairs.”
“Oh yeah, Rock told me they planned this so we got back together.”
She reached up, adjusting my glasses. “Well, it worked. You’re stuck with me now, Mr. Diaz.”
And that thought made me the happiest man in the world.
Chapter 25
Julia
Seven weeks later
“IT’S LOCKED,” MONTY said, pulling at the closet door.
“That’s for peeing in my ice cube tray. Don’t think I didn’t notice the yellow ice cubes,” James yelled from the other side.
Monty turned to me with a grin. “He thought I forgot about getting him back for last year.”
“Oh no, whatever shall we do?” I raised my voice with a wide smile.
“You going to impregnate her again?” James asked.
Monty frowned. “That’s none of your business. Now go dance with your girl and stuff your face with food. Enjoy the Jingle Balls Ball.”
“Fine. But now I feel like this isn’t really a punishment for you based on the décor inside there and that you have Julia to keep you company.”
Covering my mouth, I tried to stifle my giggle.
We were back at the Jingle Balls Ball and stuck together in the same closet. Only this time, there were twinkly lights hanging from the ceiling. They had cleared the boxes out, and in their place was a small round table, white tablecloth, and food.
It was romantic, and I loved it.
James grumbled something, and then I heard his footsteps as he walked away.
“I love the surprise.” I walked over to Monty and slid my arms around his waist.
“It’s our one-year anniversary of meeting. I had to make it special.” He kissed the top of my head.
“I feel like I’m overdressed. When you told me you were taking me to the Jingle Balls Ball, I thought we would be in the ballroom, not back in the stuffy closet.”
Surprising the Billionaire with a Baby (Blue Ridge Mountain Billionaires Book 2) Page 14